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C. Braxton Bryan (1852–1922)

C. Braxton Bryan was an Episcopal minister and a
proponent of African
American education. Between 1893 and 1905, while serving as minister of
Saint John's Church in Hampton, he
developed an interest in the students at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, which
was founded to educate African Americans and Native Americans. At Hampton, Bryan also
helped establish Saint Cyprian's Church, the city's first African American Episcopal
congregation. Early in 1905 he moved to Petersburg and was elected dean and principal
of the Bishop Payne
Divinity School, the oldest theological seminary for the education of
African American Episcopal clergymen in the South. Bryan, who believed that whites
were a superior race, felt
that Christian beliefs helped improve the lives of black Virginians and saw the
promotion of African American education and spirituality as his responsibility. MORE...

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Corbin Braxton Bryan was born on April 17, 1852, at Eagle Point in Gloucester County, the son of
John Randolph Bryan and Elizabeth Tucker Coalter Bryan. His elder brothers included
Joseph Bryan (1845–1908), the
noted Richmond industrialist and newspaper publisher. Bryan was educated in various
private schools and at Norwood Academy in Nelson County before entering the University of Virginia's engineering
department in 1871. He felt himself called to the ministry after two years and
enrolled in 1875 at the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Alexandria. Bryan graduated in
1878 and was ordained in June 1879. In 1882 he married Mary Sidney Caldwell Scott, of
Lenoir, North Carolina. They had two sons and four daughters.

Bryan spent the years 1878–1881 in Lynnhaven
Parish, Princess Anne
County; the years 1881–1891 at Christ Church, Millwood, in Clarke County; the years 1891–1893
at Epiphany Episcopal Church in Danville; and the years 1893–1905 at Saint John's
Church in Hampton. At Hampton he developed a keen interest in the students at Hampton
Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University), including the Native
Americans from the western states and territories. Bryan traveled to the West several
times to visit the Indian schools from which many Hampton students came. He helped
found Saint Cyprian's Church, Hampton's first African American Episcopal
congregation, and he came to believe that the influence of Christianity would
markedly improve the lives of black Virginians, for whom he believed that he and his
fellow whites, as a superior race, had a special responsibility.

During the academic year 1903–1904 Bryan received a D.D. from Hampden-Sydney
College. Early in 1905 he moved to Petersburg to become the minister of Grace
Episcopal Church, and on March 10 of that year he was elected dean and principal of
the Bishop Payne Divinity and Industrial School (after 1910 the Bishop Payne Divinity
School), which was also in Petersburg. Organized in 1881, it was the oldest
theological seminary for the education of African American Episcopal clergymen in the
South. Bishop Payne was a small institution boasting only four teachers and sixteen
students in 1908, but by 1921 it had educated more than 60 percent of all the African
American Episcopal ministers in the United States, and several of its alumni were
serving as missionaries or ministers in other countries. Bryan served as dean and
principal until his death.

Bryan also served as historiographer of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, from 1907
to 1919 was the diocese's clerical delegate to the denomination's national
conventions, and was dean of the Central Convocation of Southern Virginia at the time
of his death. He resigned from Grace Church in February 1922 because of poor health,
and on March 12 of that year he suffered a heart attack while in Hampton, where he
was conducting Sunday Lenten services at Saint John's, his former church. Bryan
traveled to Richmond, where he died at the home of a nephew on March 17, 1922. He was
buried in Hollywood
Cemetery in that city.

Time Line

April 15, 1852
- Corbin Braxton Bryan is born at Eagle Point in Gloucester County, the son of John Randolph Bryan and Elizabeth Tucker Coalter Bryan.

1905
- C. Braxton Bryan moves to Petersburg to become the minister of Grace Episcopal Church.

March 10, 1905
- C. Braxton Bryan is elected dean and principal of the Bishop Payne Divinity and Industrial School, in Petersburg. It is the oldest theological seminary for the education of African American Episcopal clergymen in the South. Bryan holds these positions until his death in 1922.

1907–1919
- C. Braxton Bryan serves as the Diocese of Southern Virginia's clerical delegate to the denomination's national conventions.

February 1922
- C. Braxton Bryan resigns as minister of Grace Church because of poor health.

March 12, 1922
- C. Braxton Bryan suffers a heart attack while in Hampton, where he was conducting Sunday Lenten services at Saint John's Church.

March 17, 1922
- C. Braxton Bryan dies in Richmond at the home of a nephew. He is buried in Hollywood Cemetery.